Tag: Project insights

Tau Station has been in Closed Alpha since the beginning of January and we’ve been getting fantastic support from the first Community members who have joined the test. We’re very happy about all of the feedback and suggestions. Around 100 of all participants did the first feedback survey so far, and we’re happy to see an average rating of 7.4 even with the game still in its Alpha state. On top to that, the gaming activity and login frequency are awesome; some of you have already reached level 10+! It seems we have delivered something that you’ve been enjoying. In order to keep delivering it, we need your help!

You’ve saved up enough credits to take a shuttle to another station. You walk through Tau Station’s port which overflows with ships, cargo, and people. The departures board lists your available destinations: Sol Jump Gate, Taungoo Station, København, Nouveau Limoges, and Poul Anderson’s Legacy. What hints about where you’re going do you get from the name of each station? This is something the creative team thinks about each time we write a pitch for a new station in the universe.

Like many big projects, the idea for this game started out as one person’s dream. What you’re going to read here is the story of how Tau Station has moved from being just a dream to a game that’s a few short months away from launching its Alpha testing phase. It’s a story in two voices.

I’m doing heater runs in Taungoo when a contact I haven’t heard from in years asks me to quietly deliver a package to Nouveau Limoges, another station in the Sol System. The money’s good so I head down to the port, hop in Amethyst, and launch. Amethyst‘s an older ship and she’s higher maintenance than I’d like, but she keeps flying.

A little over 7 segments later (just over 1.5 hours, old Earth time) I arrive at Nouveau Limoges and that’s when the trouble kicks in. I’m a Consortium citizen, but Nouveau Limoges is a Gaule station and I forgot to renew my visa. Immigration computers notice my status and Amethyst‘s nav system is overridden to auto-deport me. Meanwhile, I was supposed to deliver the package in my hold within 8 segments and now it’s starting to change shape. I think I’ve been set up.